Bowmans to focus on ingredients

Hertfordshire-based Jas Bowman & Sons Limited is withdrawing from the milling market to concentrate on ingredients.

To support the growth of its ingredients business, Bowmans made an investment in a Hertfordshire blending plant in 2012, and it has now announced the milling side of the business will close entirely.

It said: “Future supplies of high-specification flour will be guaranteed through a new supply chain with strict criteria and quality control. This approach is already used successfully by Bowmans in its international operations, and the change will be seamless and invisible to the customer.”

Whitworth Bros. Ltd. Flour Millers will purchase and continue to run Bowmans’ Whitley Bridge flour heat treatment plant. The Whitley Bridge flour mill will be contracted to mill for Whitworths Bros. Ltd. until late 2016, at which point it will cease production.

Milling operations at Bowmans’ site in Ickleford, Hertfordshire will cease in September 2016, though the company’s Head Office, R&D centre and ingredients manufacturing facility will continue to operate from the site.

It added: “Some staff will be affected by the moves, and the management team is working with them and their representatives to minimise the impact of the changes.”

Rory Bowman, chief executive of Bowmans said: “This a positive move for the company, its customers, suppliers and staff; and will further strengthen our position in the global market.”